Collective Iranian Culturebase

* Azarethes *

Azarakhsh

آذرخش ، آزارتس

Azarethes (Azarakhsh meaning thunderlight), also recorded as Exarath and Zuraq, was a SassanidPersian military commander during the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. His name is the Greek corruption of a probably honorific title.According to the account of Procopius (De bello Persico, I.18), Azarethes was placed in command of the Persian army in Mesopotamia after the Persian defeat in the Battle of Dara in 530. Procopius calls him an "exceptionally able warrior", and Zacharias of Mytilene records that he held the rank of astabadh (a senior minister roughly equivalent to the Byzantine magister officiorum). In 531, together with his Lakhmid allies, he led an invasion across the Euphrates into the Byzantine province of Commagene. When the Byzantine army under Belisarius approached, they withdrew east, halting at Callinicum. In the ensuing battle, the Byzantines suffered a heavy defeat, but Persian losses too were so high that the Persian king Kavadh 1st (r. 488–531) was displeased with him and relieved him of his command.He only reappears in the sources once, in 544, when he accompanied Kavadh's successor, Khosrau 1st (r. 531–579), at the siege of Edessa. (Wikipedia) - Azarethes

Azarethes

Allegiance

Sasanian Empire

Service/branch

Sasanian army

Rank

Astabadh

Battles/wars

Byzantine–Sasanian wars

Azarethes (Greek: Ἀζαρέθης), also recorded as Exarath (Ἑξαράθ) and Zuraq, was a Sassanid Persian military commander during the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. His name is the Greek corruption of a probably honorific title.

Biography

According to the account of Procopius (De bello Persico, I.18), Azarethes was placed in command of the Persian army in Mesopotamia after the Persian defeat in the Battle of Dara in 530. Procopius calls him an "exceptionally able warrior", and Zacharias of Mytilene records that he held the rank of astabadh (a senior minister roughly equivalent to the Byzantine magister officiorum). In 531, together with his Lakhmid allies, he led an invasion across the Euphrates into the Byzantine province of Commagene. When the Byzantine army under Belisarius approached, they withdrew east, halting at Callinicum. In the ensuing battle, the Byzantines suffered a heavy defeat, but Persian losses too were so high that the Persian king Kavadh I (r. 488–531) was displeased with him and relieved him of his command.

He only reappears in the sources once, in 544, when he accompanied Kavadh''s successor, Khosrau I (r. 531–579), at the siege of Edessa.